HP upgrades Z workstations and boosts Turbo Drive

Newly revamped: HP's even faster Z840

It seems to be the season for the world’s computer manufacturers to be bumping up specs as HP announces increased system expandability, higher-speed memory, and multicore updates for its Z series, as well as its fastest Z Turbo Drive to date.

The newly revamped HP Z840, Z640 and Z440 desktop workstations now feature multi-core Intel Xeon E5-2600 v4 series processors and the latest graphics options from NVIDIA Quadro and AMD FirePro. The new cores alone will support faster memory speeds than the previous generation processors, up to 2400MHz, and can support up to 44 physical cores per-workstation.

In fact, HP states that the new workstations offer 12.5% faster DDR4 memory compared to the prior generation.

Add in the Quadro M6000 GPU and, though HP hasn’t baldly stated it, you have a very capable machine for dealing with VR. The Z840 even has two of the units inside its chassis, which should be enough graphic grunt for most people and then some.

The new HP Z Turbo Drive with 1 TB PCIe SSD storage, meanwhile, is a second generation unit that delivers up to four times the read performance of traditional SSDs at a cost that's billed as ‘remarkably’ similar.

The three new workstations also offer a tool-less chassis, integrated handles so they can be easily racked, a visually cable-less design, and, perhaps more to the point, Thunderbolt 2 connectivity.

"The addition of our latest Z Workstations and Z Turbo Drive demonstrate HP Inc.'s unwavering commitment to professionals who consistently push the limits of technology to bring the world and the universe life changing innovations," said Jeff Wood, vice president, Worldwide Product Management, Workstations and Thin Clients, HP Inc. "As the requirement of big data intensifies, the HP Z portfolio will continue providing increased reliability, performance and innovation for customers working on everything from mission critical space endeavors to energy exploration and blockbuster films.”

Pricing for the Z440, Z640 and Z840 starts at $1,299, $1,759 and $2,399, respectively. The HP Z Turbo Drive G2 1TB PCIe starts at $799.